I suppose you don't know me, I'm the guy who wrote the "Who needs greeble"-tutorial which Janine translated and posted recently.
Now to the topic:
Originally, I made this expression for my own, but I think many people can need it, so i make it public, under some sort of Open Source license; you can use it for private or commercial projects, but you aren't allowed to resell it as your own expression.

What's OBAN? Never have heard of it? So... let this picture explain:

http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/8826/obanexpressionen5ey.jpg

It took me two hours to translate all the files, but now they're ready to be downloaded.

This ZIP-file (http://home.arcor.de/t_d/Oban-en.zip) contains the source C4D-file and a PDF readme. The PDF is important, so read it!
This ZIP-file (http://home.arcor.de/t_d/Sample-Oban-en.zip) contains two sample C4D-files, they're self-explaining.

Two more pictures which show the features of OBAN:
http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/5750/cinema4d8ar.jpg

Hope it's useful to you... have fun with OBAN, and if you wanna show your experiments, don't wait to post them in this thread :)

Greets from Vienna,
Gentle

Dxotic

11 November 2005, 08:33 PM

Wow Thanks for being so generous with your time and welcome!

so much too learn!

:beer:

tcastudios

11 November 2005, 08:46 PM

Thank you very much!!
I found the german version some days ago but had a hard time with the German text.
This is great!

Cheers
Lennart

acmepixel

11 November 2005, 09:48 PM

Very Cool. Looks like it could be very handy.

Thanks. :bounce:

Darter

11 November 2005, 12:47 AM

Thanks, this expression is useful, intuitive and fun.

I've found what seems to be an effective solution to the rotation problem. It does require another null to be added to the setup. I'm assuming that you don't want the file posted directly here, so I've provided a screenshot:

lllab

11 November 2005, 01:11 AM

very cool, very nice:-)))

cheers& thanks
stefan

JDP

11 November 2005, 05:26 AM

To change the rotation to what you want take the output from the alignment port of the psurfaceposition node and multiply it by the Matrix : offset 0,0,0 V1 1,0,0 V2 0,0,1 V3 0,-1,0 ( see attachment). After choosing the Matrix datatype in the constant node right click where it says value and choose show subchannels to be able to input the values.

Gentle

11 November 2005, 03:19 PM

Thanks for your ideas, Darter and JDP!
Yeah, this matrix multiplication.. I thought of it yesterday - now I'm sure - thanks JDP, I'm going to implement it. I'll load the new file in some minutes up :)

Okay... done. Thanks again to Darter for the input and to JDP for the solution.
I've refreshed the "source"-File, the "manual" and the Samplefiles.
File-Download (http://home.arcor.de/t_d/Oban-en.zip)
Samples Download (http://home.arcor.de/t_d/Sample-Oban-en.zip)

Greets,
Gentle

PS: If you did some cool-looking tests, post them ;)

JDP

11 November 2005, 07:10 PM

Yeah, this matrix multiplication.. I thought of it yesterday - now I'm sure - thanks JDP

You're welcome, glad to be of some help. :)

vbvcvj

11 November 2005, 05:31 AM

Hey, that looks really cool. And thanks for sharing the file! :thumbsup:

Gentle

11 November 2005, 01:42 PM

You're welcome ;)

I've got something to add, which is important but not everybody knows: For this sort of Expression, you have to click the "Play"-button and then the "jump to beginning of animation"-button. Otherwise, you won't notice any changes, and your computer too ;)

Gentle

11 November 2005, 03:52 PM

Hi folks,
I've put some more functions into my expression OBAN:
1) You can randomize the size of the particles in percent
2) You can orientate the particles either along the polygon normals, or along the source-particle-object.
3) You can align the particle objects not only on the polygons but on points and edges too!

GASP!
Huge thank you for this one. I have a paid project coming that needs exactly like OBAN. If they dont change the script, OBAN will be in major role. No way I will let you walk away from this without getting compensation for your efforts ;)

Gentle

11 November 2005, 06:31 PM

@Hilt: Sounds really cool. Hold me up-to-date about it :)

Hi people,

OBAN has a new function - now you can orientate your particles on an object so that all the particles are looking in this direction. Thanks to Angbor of Westernis from the community 3d-ring.de for the inspiration! :)

Link: http://home.arcor.de/t_d/Oban.zip

I'm going to make a third samplefile, which shows this new feature. The both samples haven't got this new feature.
Have fun ;)

Greets,
Gentle

Tiziano

11 November 2005, 09:15 PM

Danke Gentle. :thumbsup:
http://www.jmtype.com/threadclamp.jpg

Gentle

11 November 2005, 02:00 AM

@Tiziano: funny pic :applause:

@all: I updated the samplefiles...

Download:
http://home.arcor.de/t_d/Sample-Oban-en.zip

and played a bit around.
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8152/118xk.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7075/125jg.jpg

Daoine

11 November 2005, 04:36 AM

Hi Gentle. First off, this is some truly astounding work. I mean... Holy Sh**!!! YOU ARE THE MAN!!! This is sweet. I could really go on and on forever about how cool this is.:applause::buttrock::deal:

The updated version is only the german one though:D

Awaiting the updated english version eagerly (though I'd be willing to learn german to use it:scream:)

Thanks again,

Daoine

Gentle

11 November 2005, 11:08 AM

Thanks, Daoine. :)

One more time I used the false link... uaaarrgh:scream:
THIS (http://home.arcor.de/t_d/Oban-en.zip) is the english version (It's always the file Oban-en.zip)

Greets,
Gentle

Daoine

11 November 2005, 04:55 PM

No problem... Like I said, I'd be willing to learn German just to use this:scream: It really is extraordinary work.

Thanks for the quick update and keep up the good work!

P.S. You and STeve Baines should team up. Between FusionThing and Oben, us C4D users have all the tools we need for procedural modeling and greeble type effects.

thanks again,
daoine

Gentle

11 November 2005, 12:01 AM

Hm, I don't know Steve. But my Expression is priceless, and I suppose he won't make his own plugin costless ;)
But.. let's see how things develop. :)

PS: If you have some ideas for new features, people... let me know.

moka.studio

11 November 2005, 09:34 AM

I had overssen this thread so far,
thanks you for sharing this Xpresso setup, looks very nice !

Gentle

12 December 2005, 03:13 PM

Hi there,

I created some new samplefiles, which are much more complex than the others.
Now you may see the great data compression: A file which hjas more than 40.000 cubic particles needs just 234KB...

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/5388/zusammen18cp.jpg

http://gentle.gym.wenzgasse.at/3d/OBAN/Sample2-Oban.zip

acmepixel

12 December 2005, 05:41 PM

Fantastic stuff!

Thanks for the Christmas toys. :beer:

artdude12

12 December 2005, 07:23 PM

I'm getting a server not found error message on the samples 2 download link.

Gentle

12 December 2005, 09:26 PM

Whoops, my fault. I'm not able to do a proper link :D
Now it should work...

Jeah, it is. However, I'm working on a new release, Oban 1.0 - it'll cost very much... 100.000 Zappadoings.
No, just kidding, it'll be an Open-Source thing. ;)

Tiziano

12 December 2005, 05:41 PM

Jeah, it is. However, I'm working on a new release, Oban 1.0 - it'll cost very much... 100.000 Zappadoings.
No, just kidding, it'll be an Open-Source thing. ;)I have an old milk cow out back that I could part with. Perhaps a chicken or two :D .

Cool, danke.

benytone

12 December 2005, 06:51 PM

Gentle Servus!

that's with OBAN & little Hair

http://pixerve.de/35359/choco.html

thanks Gentle :thumbsup:

.

Dementor3D

01 January 2006, 01:51 PM

yay my friend...

you know my opinion about this great expression!

heres a lille test

tonare

01 January 2006, 06:14 PM

Thank you, this is great for abstract!!:)

Gentle

01 January 2006, 12:06 AM

@Tiziano: A milk cow. That'd be very useful :D
@benytone: Nice, how many particles are that?
@Dementor 3D: I know this work... and I like it ;)

These day's I've been working on OBAN 1.0 - it will focus more on animation.

Some sort of a snack...:
I'm a mov-animation! (http://www.cghost.de/~Gentle/Anim.mov)

benytone

01 January 2006, 06:41 PM

@Tiziano: A milk cow. That'd be very useful :D
@benytone: Nice, how many particles are that?
@Dementor 3D: I know this work... and I like it ;)

These day's I've been working on OBAN 1.0 - it will focus more on animation.

Some sort of a snack...:
I'm a mov-animation! (http://www.cghost.de/~Gentle/Anim.mov)

Gentle Servus!

many particles and 4. different light

:)
.

Gentle

01 January 2006, 05:52 PM

Greetings from Oban 1.0 ...

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4615/baum21op.jpg

Tiziano

01 January 2006, 05:58 PM

:bounce: :applause: :bowdown:

artdude12

01 January 2006, 06:34 PM

That is very impressive!

bobzilla

01 January 2006, 06:44 PM

Nice...any chance of a "how to"??

Gentle

01 January 2006, 07:13 PM

Of course... but you'll have to wait till Oban 1.0 will be released :)

I can't say when I release it, so here's a short description of the workaround:

Create a bole, oban some big branches (which have their axis at their base) on it, rotate them randomly(Oban 1.0), change it to a mesh and connect the big branches, create a little branch, oban some leaves on it, change the leafs to al poly object and connect them, put the little branch and the leafs into a Null object which axis is at the base of the branch, oban this null object on the big branches. Render it.

robotbob

01 January 2006, 07:56 AM

really nice gentle - very unique stuff you have stashed away here. best thread ive seen round here for a while.

pedro

Gentle

01 January 2006, 07:43 PM

Thank you, robotbob :)

Here's a wallpaper version of the Tree...:
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9343/baumwallpaper0te.th.jpg (http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=baumwallpaper0te.jpg)

robotbob

01 January 2006, 08:52 PM

senor gentle - i have seen trees made by xfrog + dpit and this is brilliant. you have made some truely inspiring stuff - i am really looking forward to oban 1.0 especially with a rotation variable.

wohoo !

0010

01 January 2006, 11:49 PM

:applause:WOOOW:applause:

thank you very much for share it !!! ... :buttrock:
i like it very much !!!

very easy to use !!

:beer:

Gentle

01 January 2006, 09:34 PM

One more pic. I made the city with OBAN (old version)... there are 1400 buildings, but I think the pic is too bad for the cgtalk-showroom ;)

I just posted a pic with the tree into the showroom, jiha.
Before I'd forget... I completed the tutorial fpor the tree; I have to translate it into Englisch some time - and you'll have to wait for it till OBAN 1.0 is ready ;)

Greets,
Gentle

bobzilla

01 January 2006, 03:35 PM

That tree looks great. Very natural looking.

Does it take long to render?

Gentle

01 January 2006, 04:43 PM

Hm, with the stochastic mode, it takes rather long (about 30mins?), because of the many leaves in the in inner of the crown.

And, if you want to, you can see the tree in a scene... ;)
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=309952

Regards,
Gentle

kromekat

01 January 2006, 02:23 AM

Very cool tool! - many thanks!! :D

Adam

robotbob

02 February 2006, 12:39 AM

any updates gentle ? im dead keen to play with 1.0

Gentle

02 February 2006, 07:43 PM

@robotbob: Just wait for the 12th of February, 22:22 in European time... :)

robotbob

02 February 2006, 07:47 PM

nice work mate - ill pencil it in, exactly. . .

Gentle

02 February 2006, 11:23 AM

Okay, I decided to set the release date to 22nd of February, so I have 9 2's :D

22.2. 22:22

This is because the production of the promotion video needs a bit more time... and maybe I'm able to make some additional functions.
So... relax and wait for the release, the promo video and one or two tutorials :)

Tiziano

02 February 2006, 03:29 PM

I await the 9 2's :bounce:
Edit: Ooops! 7 2's!

Gentle

02 February 2006, 10:45 PM

Hey, that's a cool slogan :eek::thumbsup:

Gentle

02 February 2006, 01:09 PM

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2753/warten2xh.jpg

I go for playing with numbers ;)
For the release of OBAN 1.0, you can expect also a promo-video and one or two tutorials - anyway, a tree tutorial.
And: A logo (which you can see yet on the banner ;) )

Greets,
Gentle

PS: Seven 2's, not nine, my fault :D

robotbob

02 February 2006, 01:17 PM

me too. i always default to a prefered sequence involving the number 23, backwards , reversed or multiples of.

23 chromasomethings in the human body . . .

marcom

02 February 2006, 08:04 AM

this thing looks very cool.

looking forward to the 22th.

cheers
marcom

medula

02 February 2006, 03:28 PM

wØØt! This is so cool! Looking forward to the 22nd as well!

Matariki

02 February 2006, 09:56 AM

Again! It seem I am coming late to the best party of the year.
This is a seriously good xpression. Well done. can't wait to get 1.0

waiting...........
waiting..........
oh, what was that...
ahh, i just blinked.......
waiting..........

cant wait! :)

lllab

02 February 2006, 07:25 PM

22.24h here ....man its 2 minutes late!

thats not allowed!

cheers
st.

BCEmcke

02 February 2006, 07:31 PM

I do guess that Gentle is going for his timezone which makes it 20:27:05 as I write this. So he still has almost two hours I guess. But I will wait in case I am wrong. :eek:

Cheers
Björn :drool:

city sound

02 February 2006, 07:34 PM

22.24h here ....man its 2 minutes late!

thats not allowed!

cheers
st.

Today's the Birthday of Gentle;
don't forget ~~congratulations :wip:

BCEmcke

02 February 2006, 07:40 PM

A Happy Birthday we wish to you--
we're waiting for OBAN and the nine two--
's but maybe you're full from all the cake--
we can't wait no longer, for God's sake!!!
Yo!:buttrock:

Cheers
Björn

marcom

02 February 2006, 08:14 PM

happy birthday! and hurry, it's already 21:14 here... :)

cheers
marcom

ooo

02 February 2006, 09:00 PM

happy Birthday! And ...... 22 minutes to go! :cool:

odo

BCEmcke

02 February 2006, 09:23 PM

Wouldn't it be kind of ironic if the servers would crash at 22:22:22? :twisted:

ooo

02 February 2006, 09:26 PM

Wouldn't it be kind of ironic if the servers would crash at 22:22:22? :twisted:

On my clock it's already 22.25.34 so I guess somewhere a clock has stopped ticking...

BCEmcke

02 February 2006, 09:27 PM

On my clock it's already 22.25.34 so I guess somewhere a clock has stopped ticking...

No, that was my pacemaker! :eek:

ooo

02 February 2006, 09:33 PM

No, that was my pacemaker! :eek:

:eek: indeed. Maybe just rewind the clock a little bit...

Or maybe Oban 1.0 has indeed been released now somewhere in the streets of Vienna. Gentl never promised we would get it the easy way. :p

BCEmcke

02 February 2006, 09:38 PM

:eek: indeed. Maybe just rewind the clock a little bit...

Or maybe Oban 1.0 has indeed been released now somewhere in the streets of Vienna. Gentl never promised we would get it the easy way. :p

I get it, instead of "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" it's "Where in Vienna is the only version of OBAN 1.0? :surprised

Or we're waiting for OBAN 2.22 :bounce:

sjmcc

02 February 2006, 09:41 PM

For those who didn't see it Oban is in the CGNews section. I'm sure it will get posted here but it is there now.

ooo

02 February 2006, 09:53 PM

For those who didn't see it Oban is in the CGNews section. I'm sure it will get posted here but it is there now.

Aaahh, now I feel stupid! thanks for posting this! And thanks Tobias! Excellent and right on time!

odo

Gentle

02 February 2006, 10:17 PM

Sorry - I forgot to mention that it's GMT +1h ;)

Here's the link to the News-Section-thread :) (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=321109)

PKid

02 February 2006, 10:19 PM

Could someone point me to the CG News post?

PKid

02 February 2006, 10:21 PM

Forget last post!

TonyL

02 February 2006, 10:22 PM

Tobias,

Thanks for Oban - wonderful. Lots of uses spring to mind (great for putting moisture drops on surfaces for example), and there must be lots of others.

One thing: I put my copy into the objects section of the library and C4D didn't like it there (said that the file could not be found). So I just load it as normal. Funny that. I would be interested if others find that also.

Best wishes and thanks again -- TL

esokanod

02 February 2006, 10:37 PM

happy birthday and thanks :love:

Gentle

02 February 2006, 10:49 PM

It's not my birthday , that's just a rumour which was started on one or two page before but... thanks :D

PS: You're right in some parts; I put a "signature" into OBAN where some intial values are my birthday date ;)

robotbob

02 February 2006, 10:57 PM

relax people . . in five minutes it will default to a hour 23 release. in one hour and five minutes it will default to a day 23 release.

and 23 aint bad

esokanod

02 February 2006, 11:02 PM

It's not my birthday , that's just a rumour which was started on one or two page before but... thanks :D

PS: You're right in some parts; I put a "signature" into OBAN where some intial values are my birthday date ;)

no birthday, no happy birthday (joke) :blush:
but thanks again Gentle

lllab

02 February 2006, 11:18 PM

thanks gentle!!!

cheers
stefan

vid2k2

02 February 2006, 01:09 AM

Vielen Dank :) :applause:

Damsel

02 February 2006, 04:47 PM

First of all thank you so much for the wonderful plugin! It is really great!

I'm having a bit of trouble with the tree tutorial. All works fine except when I get toward the ending where I add the bigger branches to the trunk. They add themselves all over the trunk to the bottom. I tried doing a "set selection" for the top third or so of the trunk and dragging that into the object field but it still doesn't add them there, but adds them all over the trunk.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any input!

tcastudios

02 February 2006, 04:58 PM

Make sure you have the correct version of Oban. I did have the same problem and couldn't find the "Selection" box (Where you should put the selection tag).
There is an older version at his site, make sure you have the one from the links provided at the CGNews thread.
Cheers
Lennart

Damsel

02 February 2006, 06:09 PM

Thank you Lennart. You were correct. I didn't have the "selection" box and thought it was supposed to go in the first box. I'll give it another try. :-)

Edited....
That was it. Thanks so much! :)

FranOnTheEdge

02 February 2006, 01:28 AM

Excuse me, but I don't understand this part of the tut:

"Drag the objects into the empty boxes."

What 'objects'? And I don't have any 'empty boxes' as far as I know, what boxes?

And once we have that bit figured out, what does:

"Tune their counts."
mean?

Sorry,

Tiziano

02 February 2006, 03:09 AM

http://www.jmtype.com/boxes-counts.gif
The 'empty boxes' are boxes but they might look more like input fields to some.
In the tute they are already filled (as I show above) but they'll be empty until you drag the proper objects into them from the Object Manager.
The empty boxes are:
-Alignment Object
-Particle Object 1
-Particle Object 2

Drag your Plane Object into the empty Alignment Object box and the cubes into the other ones.

Tune their counts means to choose how many iterations of the objects you want Oban to create (I believe).
In this case, how many cubes.

You might download Gentle's Oban Tree Tute as well. It's more detailed and might fill in some gaps for you. http://www.tutarchiv.de/content/download/Obanbaumtut-en.pdf

Thanks, Tiziano. I'll save this for perusal when I'm more awake tomorrow (as all this is a bit new to me) (and the tree tut, thanks for that tip.)

Gentle,

Thanks, I just found the whole idea (sort of "Super Greeble") so intriguing I just had to try it. I downloaded all the files as I read through the thread, so I'm not sure if I have OBAN1.0 or not, I have this - OBAN 1-0.c4d is that the right one? (or part of the right one?)

Gentle

02 February 2006, 04:55 PM

@FranOnTheEdge: Yes, that's the right one :)

FranOnTheEdge

02 February 2006, 09:17 PM

Well I don't really know what I'm doing, but it's interesting certainly...

Gentle

03 March 2006, 01:17 PM

Some people asked me whether they can make a voluntary donation for OBAN 1.0, so I opened up a paypal-account.

OBAN 1.0 is Open-Source and so it's priceless,
but if it's so valueable for you
that you like to make a voluntary donation - to support the tool and me -
you are welcome to do this .

Choose an amount of money with which you can equiponderate OBAN 1.0 in your own discretion and send it, if possible in Euros, to the PayPal-account "thegentle0@gmail.com".

If you haven't got PayPal and nevertheless you want to donate something, write me an email or a personal message so that I can give you my bank account data.

Best regards and furthermore have a nice time with OBAN,
Tobias Deml
aka
Gentle

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